Maelstrom
by Xaito Gekyume
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki has never wanted much in his life, just acknowledgment. Sure, he wants to become Hokage but he feels that he has a much deeper purpose, that he is capable of something more. He doesn't know how right he is, as his journey to become Hokage pulls him into an adventure that is just as dangerous as his namesake. This isn't just about becoming Hokage anymore.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

 _BAM! BAM! BAM!_

" _Naruto you asshole! Wake up_!" A voice yells from outside the door of Naruto Uzumaki's apartment. The person behind the door hears silence and gives a groan, but after several long moments the door doesn't open. " _Oh come on Naruto! Kakashi-sensei is going to have our asses if we don't show up on time_!" Within the apartment is total darkness; inside, it is quite clean with everything in order. Books and scrolls are filed together on the shelf in the living room, which is of decent size. There is no dirt of stains on the tan carpet, with the three cushioned couch being just about spotless.

The moderately small kitchen is completely clean as well. In the cabinets, all dishes are clean and placed nicely. The counters are cleanly wiped, with the stove oven being dirtless. The ebony double sick is empty and clean, the floor of the kitchen is without crap and unwanted dirt, in all the apartment is spotless.

 _BAM! BAM! BAM!_

"Naruto! I know your ass is in there!" Though the person could not hear from outside, a groan was voiced from inside the pitch black room. The bamming continued until the origin of the groan finally opened their eyes and started to get out of bed. Grabbing the bottle of sake by the bed, they take a swig. Leaving the room, they traveled through the dark apartment, reaching the door. The person on the outside gave a sigh of annoyance as they waited to see if they needed to look under the mat. They give a sigh of relief when they hear the locks to the door opening, and as the door opened, the words literally died in their throat as a furious blush colors their face, eyes roaming over the athletic very well toned body of the young man in front of them.

Due to their own height, they looked up to Naruto who stands at 5'10 and seems to weigh a perfectly distributed solid two hundred pounds or so. A messy mop of wild golden blond hair sits on his head, his bangs nearly reaching his sapphire blue eyes that are completely focused on them. Since he is shirtless, his visitor admires is sculpted chest and wonderful arms, fruit of his hard labor. "Sakura-chan," he speaks in a almost guttural voice due to just waking up, and he takes a quick swig as he himself admires her.

He looks down at her considering she does stand at 5'6. Her hair is an odd yet beautiful natural pink cascading down her back, two bangs framing the side of her face. She has fair skin with strong emerald green eyes that hold slight annoyance. Sakura isn't exactly the curviest girl but it doesn't take away her appeal, as she does own an athletically toned body that she is happy to show off. She doesn't have much in the chest department, however, her butt is quite an eye catcher that goes well with her strong thighs. For her choice of clothing she wears a red sleeveless turtleneck halter top, showing off her abs, along with black pants that sit a bit low on her waist. She wears shinguard boots and adds a pair of gloves, her headband is tied on her head keeping her hair back a bit. "There a reason you are banging on my door at seven in the morning?" He questions, and Sakura Haruno rolls her eyes, even though a blush still colors her face.

"Teme! It's fucking One in the afternoon!" she growls out of irritation while Naruto just gives her a blank look, which is his eyes half lidded and his lips pursed in a thin line.

"What's your point?"

"Agh! Move!" she snaps, pushing him out of the way and entering his home with grumbles. Naruto rolls his own eyes with his own grumbles as he closes the door and following after his teammate.

"Oh gee, Sakura, please come in." Sakura ignores him as she flicks on the light to his living room, heading to the kitchen. "What are you doing?" he asks as stops at the threshold of the kitchen while she goes through his fridge, pulling out eggs, batter, seasoning and a package of bacon.

"Making you breakfast, what else does it look like?" she responds with a mutter, then grabbing frozen biscuits along with a few pans and his pancake maker.

"It's One in the afternoon remember?" he responds sarcastically, walking into the kitchen and tossing the empty bottle of sake into the trash. He goes into his freezer and pulls out another one, and just as he is about to open it, Sakura snatches it from his hand. She replaces it with a glass of water that is currently fizzing. In response, his eye twitches as Sakura opens it herself, takes a light swig and puts it to the side. "I was about to drink that…"

"You've had your fill of alcohol this afternoon Naruto," she tells him with a simple tone and gestures to the water in his hand. "That will help your head," then she gets to seperating the eggs but gives him a light look, "And will you go take a shower? I'm serious about the meeting dummy," Naruto rolls his eyes as he downs the drink of water. His head is starting to hurt a bit, and he did need something else besides alcohol to help his throat.

"Thank you," he throws in, missing the small smile that appears on Sakura's face. "What's the point of even rushing again? Kakashi isn't going to be there when we show up anyway," Naruto mutters while Sakura shaking her head with a sigh as she doesn't stop her movements.

"That's not the point Naruto. Whether Kakashi-sensei shows up on time or not, as Shinobi we are supposed to be on time regardless," Naruto doesn't say anything at first, simply watching her before he makes a face.

"Then why are you making me breakfast?"

"Because you need to eat something and I don't want to hear you bitch and complain later about how hungry you are, and you aren't getting ramen either!" she gives him a pointed look while Naruto whines a bit. "I swear, if you did not have an alarm clock, or me, you would sleep all day. You're just as lazy as Shikamaru," she grumbles, but tenses when she feels a pair of arms wrap around her from behind, and also feeling cool breath on the back of her neck. "What are you doing baka?" she sighs, though relaxes in his embrace.

"Proving that I can do more than Shikamaru ever could, and to give you my thanks," he states, placing lingering kisses on the back of her neck, making her shiver a little. But despite the fact Sakura is enjoying it, there is one problem, maybe several.

"Okay, stop Naruto," she tells him firmly, and stops where he is, waiting for reasons for him not to keep going. "First you reek of sake and outdoors, second your still drunk, third I am not really in the mood to be going through changes with you, and four there is no time to be fucking with you, go take your shower and get dressed," she lists calmly and sharply, but makes no moves to get out of his hold. Naruto however sighs as he lets go of her but he does surprise her as he grabs her chin, making her turn to him. Sakura gives him a look, "Go take your shower…"

"Fine!" Naruto huffs as he turns to leave and Sakura turns back to her cooking, though an amused smile touches her lips. No longer sensing him and hearing the shower start, Sakura focuses on her cooking, but as she does so her smile becomes a little bigger. She enjoys cooking for Naruto, she enjoys doing lots of things for Naruto because he is her best friend and honestly, she might be the only real friend he has besides Sasuke. He is a bit socially awkward when other people are concerned, he isn't the type to shy away from people and he's anything but an introvert. He is alot of things, but one word that fits Naruto is blunt, with other people, he has not a care if he hurts their feelings or makes them feel good. He only considers himself and her.

She has to guess it is because of how he was treated when he was a kid, in fact he is still treated the same way. She nor any of the kids their age no why, but the older generation does, they just _can't_ tell them, if what her mother says is true. She has a feeling Naruto knows, but he won't tell her. While it does make her a little sad that he won't, she understands. Maybe he is afraid she will leave him alone if he tells or, or start acting differently, there is a whole range of things he is probably worried about, but none of these things will happen because she loves him too much.

She just wishes he realizes it.

"I have to clean this place up," Naruto says quietly as he looks around his dirty room. Clothes are tossed all around the room, he doesn't know whether they are clean or dirty. He scratches his head as the towel is still wrapped around his waist and then he looks to his messy bed to see a pair of folded clean clothes sitting on the bed and frowns in thought. They were not there before he took his shower, and he glances to the doorway where the smell of food is entering through and he gives a small smile. "Thank you Sakura-chan!" he calls out, but he gets no response, not that he expected one. As he gets dressed, he can't keep the grin off his face as he thinks about the girl he is in love with.

To think that showing up late one day actually lead him to her...

" _Guess I gotta get up."_

 _Nine year old Naruto Uzumaki sighed as he rolled out of his bed. A sleepy look was on his face as he yawned, and stretched. Smacking his lips he gave a grimace as his stomach growled angrily. He would never understand how he could eat so many bowls of ramen but still be hungry the next morning._

" _Yeah yeah," he muttered as he left his bed and headed for his kitchen. He frowned tiredly as he tried to come up with an idea and thought of something a moment later. He grabbed a bowl and found his cereal. He poured it in with a grin and went to his fridge. Humming to himself he grabbed the milk and moved to open it. Flipping it over he poured...or at least he tried too._

" _What the?" he blinked and saw only a splash of milk come out. "No way." he tapped the carton more as if more would magically spill out. But no. None came, not even a drip. Immediately he felt rage but then he deflated, wondering why the hell he put two drops of milk back in the fridge._

 _He looked back at his cereal grimacing how dry it was. He had no milk...what the hell was he going to use? His eyes then wandered to the sink and he considered using water. But that was only for a moment before he shivered in disgust and shook his head. He heard his stomach growl, but he ignored it and simply sighed._

 _Leaving his kitchen he took off his clothes and headed for his bathroom and started the shower. While he waited for the water to heat up he brushed his teeth quickly. Then he got on only to jump and nearly slip and fall from how cold it was. "What the hell man?" he scowled. The water was freezing! Why didn't it get hot? Was the landlord messing with him again?_

 _Of course he was, he didnt even have to ask that question. Giving another sigh, he reached for the soap...and continued to reach but...grabbed nothing. Looking to where his hand was, there was no soap. Well there was but it was a small piece of it._

 _Now he knew he wasnt going crazy yet. There was a new box of soap just the other day! There was no way he went through it like that in two days! Then his mind went back to the milk, there was no way he left that lack of shit! Someone was messing with him!_

" _God damn it!" he cursed. How the hell was he going to get clean? Then his alarm went off, telling him he needed to leave for class or he would be late. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" quickly he turned off the water and left the shower, heading to his room where he began to throw some clothes on. But as he did so, he made look of disgust as he smelled his clothes._

 _He wanted to take them off and change but there was no time. So regretfully, he held his breath and continued to put on the clothes. Once they were on he ignored his stomach and headed out the door, closing it behind him. He took off at top speed, passing by all the villagers that glared at him or scowled._

 _But today he didn't have time to pay attention to them. He didn't have time to wonder why they hated him. He didn't have time to care. He was late, and he really didn't want to be chewed out by Iruka more than usual. Maybe Iruka wouldn't flip today? Maybe he would just sigh and tell him to take his seat!_

" _You're late!" Iruka snapped at Naruto who walked in the class, interrupting him giving the lesson. "What's your excuse this time huh?!" Iruka demanded with Naruto frowning as Iruka scowled. "Never mind I don't want to hear it."_

" _Oh man what is that smell?!" Kiba Inuzuka choked as he covered his nose while Akamaru whined a bit. "Ew! It's the dobe! You guys smell that he reeks!" Kiba taunted with a laugh, pointing at Naruto. "Look at him! I bet he didn't even brush his teeth!"_

 _This caused the class to start laughing as they mocked Naruto. He and Iruka looked at them, a bit loss for words. Iruka frowned as he looked to Naruto to see he had blank look on his face, curious and sad eyes._

" _Man not only is he an idiot but he's dirty too!"_

" _Didn't your mom teach you to have good hygiene? Oh wait!"_

" _What a nasty loser!"_

" _Hey hey dobe! You want me to lend you a bar of soap or are you okay with the trash?"_

 _Naruto hung his head low a bit, as he did his best not to get angry not to show he was upset. Usually he would flip them off or even laugh with them to show he didn't really care. But no, today was different. He just hung his head low and waited for the taunting to stop. His fist balled up a bit as it continued, why weren't they stopping? Why?!_

" _Alright that's enough out of all!" Iruka told them sternly. However they continued to laugh and he tried again. " BE QUIET!" using his demonic head jutsu. They instantly shut their mouths and he gave an nod. "Alright Naruto, go find a seat quickly." at the order Naruto stepped on the steps to find a seat. However he got the same reaction for every seat that was empty beside someone._

" _Ew! No, go over there."_

" _Hell no stinky."_

" _Sure...sike! Like I want my nose to fall off."_

" _No you cant sit by me, I dont like you."_

 _Each rejection, whether it be a glare, or insult continued to hurt him. Iruka having enough, spoke up. "Naruto, would you just sit down already? Sit next to Ino."_

" _What?! But Iruka sensei! He smells and I'm pretty! I can't let a loser like him sit next to me!" Ino argued. Iruka didn't seem to hear any of it and was about to force it when a hand shot up._

" _He can sit next to me sensei." everyone blinked and looked to see Sakura Haruno raising her hand, an empty seat beside her. "I don't mind at all," she smiled. Naruto blushed lightly as he passed Ino and slid into the spot besides Sakura._

" _Thank you." he said quietly to her, not even looking her in the eye. He turned away, focusing on Iruka who decided to return to his lesson. He expected an insult from the girl, or something rude._

" _You're welcome!"_

 _But not that._

 _Naruto didn't say a word the entire class period. He didn't raise his hand to answer questions, he didn't even mutter right answers when someone got it wrong. Silence. He felt quite uncomfortable sitting next to Sakura. Though she hadn't said or done anything mean or rude, he just felt like a burden to her. After all he was stinky and his entire outfit is an eyesore._

 _So when the bell rang signaling it was lunch time, he was the first one to stand and be out the door. He was so fast out, he didn't even hear Kiba's snide comment which was, "Typical. Last one to show up, first one to leave." Kiba then waved his hand a bit to dispel the smell, "He sure knows how to leave behind a trail of shit though," this made some of the kids laugh while Sakura had enough._

" _Oh shut up Kiba!" She snapped at him. "You're just happy that for once no one talked about your dog breath. Which honestly smells worse. Makes me wonder if if you ever brush your teeth."_

" _I brush my teeth!"_

" _Well then you need to do a better job." With that Sakura left the classroom and a fuming Kiba. With her lunch in her hand, she looked around the campus and couldn't spot Naruto. Then she caught a glimpse of orange. Smiling softly she made her way over to the tree that Naruto usually sat at, but this time he sat behind the tree._

 _She stepped a bit close and heard him sniffle while wiping away his tears. "Hey," she called and he jumped a bit in surprise, turning to look at her. "Is it okay if I sit here?" Naruto gazed at her for a few moments before he nodded._

 _Sakura watched him stand up and about to leave but she quickly squashed that idea. "Hey! You don't have to leave!" hearing this confused Naruto as he looked at her curiously. "I actually wanted to sit with you. If that's okay with you?"_

" _Why?" he wondered and Sakura gave a smile as she shrugged._

" _Because you seem like you could use a friend," She said honestly. Naruto's eyes widened upon hearing that word...friend. He never had a friend before. So hearing this offer was...mind boggling to him._

" _Y-you wanna be my friend?" he asked cautiously and she nodded. "Why?" Sakura smiled softly as she already had an answer for him._

" _Because I feel everyone needs a friend," Sakura told him before she sat down at the tree. Naruto watched her and blushed lightly when she patted the spot next to her. He sat down beside her as she began to pull out her lunch._

 _She then looked to Naruto to see how far away he was. But also he looked to be on the defensive. He was cautious It made her frown slightly, but she spoke up, "You know Naruto you can sit a little closer, I won't bite you," she joked lightly._

 _Naruto didn't laugh though as he had thoughts running through his head. "Why are you being nice to me?" he questioned first and she looked at him curiously. "How come you didn't laugh when everyone else was? You even offered me a seat knowing how much I stink. Why?"_

 _Sakura had a thoughtful expression as she gave her answer. "Like I said, everyone needs a friend. Besides, what Kiba said wasn't funny." Sakura muttered._

" _I never see you laugh."_

 _Sakura frowned before she turned to Naruto, "Because nothing is ever funny. Either the jokes are lame or they are hurting someone's feelings for a good laugh," Sakura responded. "So thats why."_

 _Naruto only gazed at her in thought before his stomach gave a very loud roar. Sakura blinked in vast surprise as she looked at Naruto's stomach. "Wow. Did you eat?" she wondered and Naruto frowned, deciding not to answer. By his silence and the look in his eyes, she got her answer._

 _Sakura then opened her lunch which was a rather tasty looking bento. Turning to the blonde she gave him a smile. "Here have some!"_

" _What?"_

" _Eat with me silly," Sakura clarified. "I usually don't eat it all by myself, but if we eat it together, it'll all be gone." Naruto was speechless then looked as if he was going to argue. But before he could, she put a spoonful of food into his mouth, "Just eat will ya?"_

 _Naruto chewed as he glared at her a bit. But he completely had wide eyes at how good it was. Once he swallowed he gave a light blush as spoke quietly, "May I have more?" Sakura gave a giggle as she nodded her head and began to feed him._

 _As she did so, Naruto still had a blush on his face. He wanted to tell her he could feed himself but she looked happy and content feeding him. Plus he liked it, it was the most attention anyone ever gave him. It made him feel all good and warm inside._

" _Well well, what do we have here?" a voice sneered, ending Naruto's thoughts as well as Sakura's. The two turned to see several kids peeking at them with sneers and smirks. "Two lovebirds sitting behind a tree,"_

" _What are you doing with this loser Sakura?" one of the kids wondered and Sakura frowned. "Don't you have better things to do?"_

" _I have better things to do than talking with you idiots." Sakura scowled. "Go away, we don't want you here." she waved them off._

" _We can go anywhere we damn well please forehead!" another boy said. "Plus ol stinky wants us here, don't you stinky?" the boy sneered at Naruto. Naruto said nothing as he looked away from them._

" _Leave him alone Toji! He hasn't done anything to you! Just go away!" Sakura glared._

" _Oh yeah? And what are you going to do huh?!" Toji demanded as he got in her face. Sakura stood up to him, not flinching. "You think your all badass because your mom is the head councilwoman?" Toji sneered. "She aint shit! Just a whore who fucked her way to her position! And have a useless ugly daughter with stupid pink hair and huge forehead!"_

 _Sakura's confidence fell as she looked away with a frown. Toji sneered at her amd before he could say anything else, he got a face full of fist. Toji fell back, holding his face while his friends looked surprised. "Take it back! Sakura-chan is not ugly! Her hair is not stupid and her forehead is just fine! Take it back!"_

" _You damn...ow! Don't just stand there idiots!" Toji snarled at his boys. "Kick his ass!" the boys nodded and swarmed Naruto who tried fighting back, but it didn't really work. Sakura was stunned for a few moments, but decided to help but she was being held back by two boys._

" _Naruto!" she called out as he was being beaten on by the group. "Stop it! Leave him alone!" she screamed. But no one listened as the stomped and punched Naruto who just laid there trying to protect himself. Toji stomped on Naruto particularly hard._

" _You damn loser!" Toji growled out with each stomp. " What gives you the right?!" he demanded. "Huh?! What gives you the right to touch me?!"_

" _Enough!" The kids heard as Iruka appeared before them and knocked all the kids of Naruto. "Let her go!" he snapped at the two boys holding Sakura. They did so and Iruka helped up Naruto before glaring at the kids. "What the hell is going on?!"_

" _Iruka sensei he started it!" Toji snapped pointing at the dazed Naruto. "He hit me first! For no reason!"_

" _Shut up Toji," Iruka snapped at the boy. He then looked to Sakura. "Sakura, what happened?" Sakura glared back at Toji before she spoke._

" _Naruto and I were minding our own business, enjoying lunch when these assholes came up and starting bullying Naruto," She informed looking to Iruka who glanced between the kids. "I defended Naruto, Toji insulted me and Naruto hit him. Toji then ordered his friends to start beating on Naruto, which is what you walked in on," Sakura explained with Iruka huffing as he turned to the boys._

" _Everyone here besides Sakura is in the wrong," he told them, as he looked to Naruto. "You shouldn't have hit him. But you shouldn't have came to be bullies," Iruka told the group of boys with a glare. "For your excessive use of force, all of you," he pointed at the group, "Will be given detention. I will inform your parents," he told the group. "Now beat it," he ordered. The boys scowled at Naruto and Sakura before they walked off. Iruka then turned to Naruto, "I'm sorry for what happened Naruto. Would you like to go to the nurse?"_

" _No!" Naruto refused adamantly, which took Sakura by surprise. "I'll be fine."_

" _Naruto, you're not fine! You should go to the nurse," Sakura insisted but he shook his head. "Iruka-sensei, make him go to the nurse!" she requested but Iruka looked to Naruto who was glaring at him. Sighing he shook his head._

" _If he says he doesn't need a nurse, I won't push it," he responded. Sakura blinked in disbelief as Naruto relaxed a bit. "Stay out of trouble you two," with that Iruka left. Sakura then looked to Naruto who gave a sigh and sat down. Sakura frowned as she stepped in front of him._

" _Naruto, why don't you want to go to the nurse? They beat you up pretty bad," she pointed. Naruto frowned as he glared into space, debating on answering her or not. After a few moments he did so._

" _I don't like any nurse or doctor that isn't my personal doctor," Naruto answered which made her frown then sit beside him. "They...They always find a way to hurt me. Or they ignore me, some even keep me from getting help," Naruto explained. Sakura looked amazed by this, but not in a positive way. He then shook his head, "That's why I don't like them. The pain will go away soon enough, it always does."_

" _Why do they do that?" Sakura wondered with Naruto frowning as he shook his head with a shrug. "Have you told anybody?"_

" _No one cares," he muttered. "I told the Hokage, he gave me a personal doctor. However I only go when I need too, which hasn't been in awhile," he shrugged. "To be honest, I don't trust her either." Sakura looked away before she looked back at him._

 _"Then I'll be your doctor," Naruto frowned in thought as he looked to her confused. "You say no one cares, but I care. So when I grow up, I'll be your doctor which works because I'm already your friend!" she grinned. Naruto gazed at her, simply astonished and he felt his heart nearly leap out of his chest. He then gained a small smile, before it became big, wide and happy. Sakura saw this, and she blushed lightly. She didn't know why but...she loved his smile. Maybe because it was genuine and true? Or it gave off warm feelings and positive vibes? No matter, she was completely taken with it._

" _I really like your smile," Sakura voiced her thoughts. Naruto looked at her, curious as she smiled softly, "You should smile more often, Naruto-kun." Upon receiving the praise and hearing the affectionate suffix to his name, Naruto blushed and it was rather noticeable. However he simply chuckled sheepishly, scratching his cheek a bit._

" _Thanks, Sakura-chan."_

"Naruto breakfast is ready!" Sakura calls to him as she is making his plate, his orange juice already on the table. Personally, she would just make him eat it on the way to their meeting, but everytime Naruto refuses. He says it's because she took the time to cook it for him, that he will take the time to sit down and properly enjoy it. He'll rush down some ramen or take out, but he will never rush her cooking. Though she simply called him a dummy when he told her, it made her feel very happy inside and appreciated. To think, that Ino wanted her to stop being friends with such a sweet guy...

 _...The two enjoyed the rest of lunch time, simply talking and getting to know each other. Both shared what they liked, what they disliked and what they hoped to be. Naruto shared his goal to be Hokage, and expressed his dream to be acknowledged, loved and happy. Sakura shared her own goal of being successful through hard work and her own skills, and shared her dream of a having a family way better than hers. The two found out they had matching likes and dislikes, and a few hobbies which they figured they could do together sometime._

 _The two also sat together in every class, Naruto way more comfortable than he was before. While he still didn't participate in class, he did still speak with Sakura and do whatever assignments given to them together. Their class of the day however was not together which actually bummed them out a bit considering now they were friends. The time apart made Sakura eager for class to be over, so she could meet up with her friend. It was why she was putting her stuff away a few minutes before the bell would ring._

" _Hey, Sakura," she heard and looked up to see Ino walking up to her desk. Sakura didn't greet Ino like she usually did, which Ino found strange but she said what she needed to say. "I heard about what happened at lunch, you okay?"_

" _I'm fine Ino. Naruto is okay too, thanks for asking," Sakura muttered with Ino rolling her eyes._

" _No one cares about that kid," Ino said with Sakura glaring lightly at her. "And you shouldn't either. He's bad news Sakura, plus he's lame and not cool," Ino expressed. "You should stop hanging out with him, or his lameness will rub off on you," Ino chuckled but Sakura didn't laugh. "Oh c'mon it's funny."_

" _No it wasn't." Sakura refused. "Look Ino, I don't care what you or anyone else has to say about Naruto. He is my friend, and it's going to stay that way," Sakura glared. "He's not lame, or even a loser. You guys just treat him like that. He's actually pretty cool. He's funny, smart and fun," Sakura defended. "So no, I won't stop being friends with him. If you don't like it, you can shove it up your ass Ino." Sakura said as she began to walk off._

" _W-what?" Ino blinked before she got angry. "How dare you speak to me like that Sakura! After all we've been through you think you can talk to me any kind of way?!" Ino growled at Sakura who stopped and looked to her. "I defended you and your billboard brow! I was your friend when nobody else was! I made you cool! You owe me!" Ino snapped at her. Sakura glared at Ino before shaking her head._

" _If that's how you really feel, then you were never really my friend," Sakura said just as the bell rang. She walked out, heading to the front of the school. She waited there for a few minutes or so, till she saw Naruto walking out of the building with a frown on his face. Seeing this, she couldn't help but frown and walked up to him. "Hey Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" she wondered. Naruto saw Sakura then looked away, his hands in his pockets._

" _Um...Ino and some other girls told me we couldn't be friends," he said which made Sakura angry. "They told me I wasn't good enough to be your friend, and…"_

 _"Naruto," Sakura stopped him and he looked to her. "No one, and I mean no one, can tell me who I can be friends with. Ino and those girls are simply jealous bitches that I have an awesome friend like you," Sakura smiled. "So don't worry about them. If I say we're friends, then we're friends, understand?" she assured before hugging him. Naruto was surprised by the contact, but he slowly returned the hug._

" _Thank you, Sakura._ "

"Thanks Sakura-chan!"

Sakura blinks upon hearing her friend and looks to see him walking into the kitchen, slipping on his short sleeve high collared orange jacket. He wears a fishnet tanktop underneath, zipping it up. For bottoms he is wearing black pants that tighten at the ankles while he wears calf high shinguard boots. As he passes by her, he places a kiss on her cheek, his usual affectionate greeting. She takes in his smell, the booze and outdoors now replaced with fresh spring and a tinge of cinnamon. He sits down at the table as does Sakura who fixed her own plate. "We still need to hurry, Kakashi-sensei is probably waiting on us now," she tells him and he gives an uncaring hum.

"How much you want to bet, he isn't?" Sakura pauses as she glances to the clock to see it's almost fifteen till two. She furrows her brows and looks to the challenging Naruto who is eating his food. Against her better judgement, Sakura smirks herself as a glint comes into her eye.

"You're on baka!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

 _THUNK!_

"You missed, again."

"Tsk! Fuck you Sasuke!" Naruto retorts with a growl as he pulls out more shuriken and starting throw some more. "I'm still tired dattebayo," he grumbles while Sasuke rolls his eyes at his teammate. Sakura, who is nearby gives a soft smile at her teammate's interaction. Much to her annoyance, the three are still waiting for their usual late sensei to show up so they can train.

However, Kakashi is present, his single eye watching his students carefully. His eye focused on Sakura, the healer and genjutsu specialist of the team. He can see the flickering annoyance in her eyes as time passes and he has yet to show himself. Though the girl is usually calm, he knows better, after all, it's just a facade. The girl is bloodthirsty and quite scary, though she keeps it behind a calm and teasing demeanor.

What makes her even scarier in Kakashi's opinion, is the fact she is quite skilled despite being a newly graduated genin. Her medical ninjutsu prowess is very impressive as is her genjutsu skills. It was somewhat difficult for him to break out of her spell when he gave the bell test, in fact, she is who allowed the bells to be taken. Her illusions though are painful and rather terrifying, usually being ones of death in hundreds of different painful ways. Though all three of them are smart, it's clear that she is the brains within the team. She did place first as the Rookie Kunoichi of her year after all, which didn't say much until he overlooked her file.

She only has two known friends, her two teammates. She never really spoke to anyone besides them, and she is serious with her studies, scoring a perfectly on every written test, and close to perfect on others. She definitely has an aptitude in the medical field. She is usually reading a book on the subject. He knows next to nothing about her home life, besides the fact she lived with her aunt and uncle due to her parents KIA and she recently moved out.

His eye then began to slide over to Sasuke Uchiha, who is slightly shorter than Naruto with raven black hair, his bangs framing the side of his face. His coal black eyes hold boredom similar to Naruto's expression, going rather well with his somewhat pale skin. While his physique isn't as toned as Naruto's, it is obvious he trains as well, his choice of clothing is a dark blue high collared short sleeve shirt with black pants and black sandals along with arm warmers, his Konoha headband tied to his forehead similar to Naruto.

Sasuke is seen as the ninjutsu specialist of the team and can honestly be considered about mid chunin level. He has already unlocked his Sharingan, has a good amount of jutsu in his library and strong enough chakra reserves to improve them as well as extend its uses. Kakashi also noticed he seems to favor the sword as well, all of them do really, just varying skills.

While Naruto is rather loud and isn't afraid to voice his thoughts, and Sakura is the more polite one, Sasuke is silent and calculating. He usually tries to prove his power over Naruto, which frankly never happens as both are equal to each other in their own way. While Sasuke is cold and annoying in his own way with his jabs, Kakashi has been around long enough to know that is pretty much how Sasuke shows affection and emotion to his teammates. He is being nice.

Then his eye lands on who he feels may be the most dangerous student despite that he comes off as harmless, brash and unfocused; Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto is the close combat specialist of the team, a natural born fighter. He has no talent for Genjutsu, but on the flip side, it doesn't affect him. He is decent enough with Ninjutsu, often preferring to side with Wind or Water elements. Then there is his Kenjutsu which he has only seen in action once or twice, but he knows that Naruto is extremely skilled; however, doesn't bring out his sword unless he feels like it. Taijutsu apparently is his favorite; as being in his opponents face as he beats them down is thrilling. Naruto openly lusts for blood and battle, which only makes him much more dangerous with his unpredictable nature.

What Kakashi finds strange about the boy is his facial expressions, as he usually squints his eyes, even though he can see perfectly. The only time Kakashi has been able to see Naruto's eyes is when he is serious or about to let loose, and the latter is usually accompanied with a toothy dark animalistic foxy grin. Which he sees creep on Naruto's face right as a kunai comes flying at him. Kakashi moves his head as it stabs into a tree, and he looks down to his awaiting students all gazing at him.

"You're late Kakashi-sensei!"

"Maa maa," Kakashi waves Sakura off who looks like she is about to blow her top as Naruto has a goofy grin on his face while standing beside his two teammates. Sakura elbows Naruto hard in the gut as he sings a victory song to himself, telling him to shut up while an angry and embarrassed blush is on her face. Kakashi wonders what is up with them, but doesn't care enough to find out, so he moves on. "Are you guys ready to see the Hokage for your next exciting mission?!" Kakashi happily cheers but his response is silence, then a quiet cough from Naruto. "You guys are no fun," he grumbles, deflating.

"What is there to be excited about when we always do the same shit?" Naruto huffs as he crosses his arms, a bored look on his face. Kakashi raises a brow as he looks to Naruto then to his two teammates, who share his expression. Together, the three genin radiate confidence, experience, and boredom. He can see why they would be bored, six months into being a genin and they have done nothing higher than a C-rank mission. They have done over two hundred D-rank missions and this mission, if it is a C-rank, will mark their thirtieth C-rank mission. He understands completely. Most of their C-rank missions either involves escorting, delivery or the occasional raid, maybe all three at once. The most excitement they get is going full out against him in a team spar. But he promised himself that after this mission, he would talk to the Hokage about giving the team higher missions.

They are ready for it, more than ready, and he is proud of them. Though they have a habit of grating on his nerves and being a little too much in his opinion, they have worked hard to be where they are at now, as a team. "Well, who knows maybe next time is different ne?" Kakashi suggests, causing the three to look interested. He then turns and begins walking off towards the mission hall. "C'mon now, time is being wasted!" the three genin grumble,

But they follow their dumb sensei.

* * *

"Where are these damn ninja? I paid good money for them!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi just sighs as he too waits with Tazuna the Bridge builder for the assigned team to show up, wondering what is taking them so long. He blames Kakashi. He doesn't wonder for much longer as he hears the familiar loud voice of Naruto Uzumaki echo throughout the hall as Team seven walks in.

"I'm telling you teme, gummy worms are way better than those damn mulch balls," Naruto stresses as chews on one, holding a bag of said candy in his hand. Sasuke rolls his eyes as he walks beside his teammate, giving him a side eye glare.

"And I'm telling you, idiot, that it's malt! They are much better than your damn worms you worm!" Sasuke insults with a huff, "They actually have flavor." Naruto's eyebrow twitches as he continues to argue with Sasuke, annoyed.

"What bullshit are you spewing now? Those damn balls you chew on go way too fast! And they are too damn expensive," Naruto scoffs as he waves off Sasuke. "With gummy worms, you get three full bags for like two bucks when on sale. Plus they last longer, are more enjoyable and they do have the taste you dumbass!" Sasuke just growls as he glares at his comrade.

"Malt!

But Naruto doesn't back down as he butts heads with the Uchiha, his eyes actually open, revealing his sapphire blue eyes.

"Gummy!"

"Malt!"

"Gummy!"

"Malt!"

"Gummy!"

"Both of you shut up!" Sakura voices out, causing them to actually stop and look at her. "We get the damn point! Naruto, you love your damn gummy worms because you like to chew! Sasuke, you love your malt balls because they are chocolate and taste good," Sakura glares at the two who both eye each other. "But if you must know! Pockie is actually the best candy," she smirks, licking her lips a bit. Both boys take offense to this as they turn on her with comical glares and big demonic heads.

"Fuck pockie!"

Kakashi sighs tiredly as this only ensures an argument between the three genins. He debates if he should stop them, but the last time he tried, both Naruto and Sakura tried to maim him with their fists and words. Nope, not this time. "Kakashi, stop them," Hiruzen orders his jounin who actually shakes his head. The old man's eye twitches in annoyance at the defiance but says nothing. He, Iruka and Tazuna just watch the three genin argue about the useless topic until the Hokage has enough.

"Enough!" he snaps, causing them to stop and look at him with unblinking eyes. He glares at them, daring one of them to say something…Naruto just coughs quietly during the silence. "Good, now that I have your attention, we can get started," He gestures to Tazuna who is looking at the three genin out of irritation. "Here is your client, Tazuna. Tazuna, these three will be escorting you back to your village."

"Wait, so I'm stuck with these brats?!" Tazuna complains, the three genin glaring at him out of annoyance. They each grumble in unison, which the Hokage ignores as he assures Tazuna that he is in good hands; sharing with him that the team is the best of their year, and they have a jounin sensei with them to give them back up if needed. Though he still doesn't look pleased, Tazuna accepts it anyway, turning to them. "I'm Tazuna! I expect you to protect me with your lives!" Tazuna declares, and the group is silent, staring at the man. Naruto looks towards Kakashi with a curious look.

"Can I kill him now? He's starting to piss me off," he voices, his teammates sharing his ire. Tazuna, however, takes a step back from them out of fear while Kakashi sighs, shaking his head while turning a page to his book.

"No you can't kill him. We need him for the mission," Kakashi tells them, with Naruto visibly deflating. "Go prepare yourselves for a month-long mission and meet me at the gates in an hour." with their orders given to him, they walk off, ignoring everyone else as Naruto and Sasuke get back to their argument about their sweets. As they leave, Tazuna voices his concerns.

"Are you sure I can trust them?" this earns curious looks from Kakashi and the Hokage while Irka remains silent. "The blond one puts me on edge; how am I supposed to know he won't actually kill me?" he questions worriedly, and the two leaf shinobi look to each other then shrug.

"We don't." This makes Tazuna pale, thoughts of Naruto randomly trying to murder him running through his mind. "Naruto is pretty laid back and even, so don't worry about him too much. Just don't bad mouth gummy worms, ramen, team or him; and if you challenge him, make sure you can back it up," Kakashi warns as he then pats Tazuna on the shoulder. "See you in a little bit!" with that Kakashi began to leave as well, and Tazuna looks to the Hokage, as if expecting something, and the old man sighs.

"This is going to be a long journey."

* * *

"Hey, you guys go ahead, I have to piss."

Sasuke rolls his eyes while Sakura gives a soft sigh while grumbling to herself. Kakashi eyes the puddle that the rest of them ignored previously, though Naruto is walking towards it without much care. As Naruto moves to undo his belt, he suddenly hops back when two clawed hands reach out of the water to run through him. "Oi!" Naruto snaps at the enemy ninja as he lands on the bridge railing, "That is a man-code violation bro!" the blond then lunges at the two Nuke-nin, while Kakashi suggest for Tazuna to turn around as Naruto starts to beat the two ninja to death, Sasuke and Sakura watching with varying degrees of boredom.

Tazuna winces and flinches occasionally as he hears the screams and cries of pain that Naruto brings out of the two. When it goes silent, he takes a peek to see one of the two are dead and the other is alive, barely. The dead brother has a broken neck as well as a severed arm, and the living brother is missing a hand while also having a broken arm. Naruto flicks the blood off his kunai, putting it away while dusting off his hands. "Now, who sent you assholes?" he questions as he tosses the ninja in front of his team. The man says nothing, but he still whimpers due to his pain. Naruto rolls his eyes and looks to Sakura who puts away her book with a sigh as she walks over to the ninja. "Sakura here is going to heal you, and then I'm going to rip through, shred or break something on your body. We're going to repeat this process till I get my answer," he explains to the man with a sick smirk.

Still not speaking, Sakura takes that as a sign to begin her treatment, healing the wound expertly. But right before it can heal completely and bring soothing relief to the enemy, Naruto breaks his leg. The man gives a scream and Sakura goes for his leg, only for Naruto to break his other arm, making him scream even louder. Sakura then moves on to his arm, and while Naruto is enjoying hearing the man's screams, he isn't talking which is annoying. Thinking of another place to injury, he moves to pull out his kunai. Upon hearing the metal weapon slide out of Naruto's holster, the Nuke-nin panics!

"The old man!" he voices out and Naruto stops, glancing to the shaken Tazuna. "It was Gato! He hired me and my brother to kill the old man! Zabuza too! Just please stop!" the man begs, though Naruto snorts in amusement before snapping his neck, and Tazuna couldn't help but puke at this point. Naruto then tosses the body with the other one and looks to Sakura, the two sharing a look before looking over to Tazuna who is also being stared at by Kakashi and Sasuke. When Tazuna gets himself together, he sees that he is being watched and he pales a little bit more.

"W-what?"

"Don't you think it would have been a good idea to inform us of this issue?" Naruto speaks up as he crosses his arms, giving the man a dry look. "Shinobi are after you. If my team wasn't so badass, you would have been dead," he says flat out and Tazuna looks ashamed. Naruto sighs as he runs a hand through his hair, "What the hell should we do?"

"Keep moving with the mission," Sasuke finally says, giving his opinion on the matter while Sakura gives a nod, agreeing. "We can handle ourselves, right Kakashi?" Sasuke looks to Kakashi who at this point is only reading his book.

"Hm?" he blinks, looking up, seeing eyes are now on him. "Oh yeah, sure sure," he waves them off. "Let's get moving, we still have a bit to go," Kakashi informs as he begins walking, and they follow however Sakura notices Naruto lagging behind, with a somewhat troubled look on his face. Curious about what is up with him, she speaks, getting everyone's attention.

"What's wrong Naruto?"

"Give me a sec, I really have to go pee!"

"Ugh, baka."

* * *

"So let me get this straight…"

Tazuna looked in Naruto's direction as they just left the boat that granted them access to the Nami no Kuni. "You're country is hella poor, always has been, and is now even more poor because this Gato guy wants to be a dick?" Naruto questions with Tazuna giving a nod, "And so as an attempt to raise funds and get your economy going, you decide to build...a bridge." Tazuna now gives an uneasy nod, wondering where Naruto is going with this because of his dry tone. "Never mind the fact you could have hired Konoha to assassinate Gato or make out some kind of payment plan. No you feel that building a bridge will solve all of your problems."

"Naruto," Sakura speaks up, giving him a light scolding tone but Naruto ignores her.

"Tell me smart guy, let's say you successfully build this bridge and Gato doesn't have anyone hired to kill you, which is also stupid; but that's beside the point," he waves off carelessly. "You build this bridge...what is to stop Gato from blowing it up when it's finished?" Naruto questions and this actually makes Tazuna stop, giving it some actual thought. "I mean, he has enough money to hire people, which is more expensive than some damn explosive tags." Naruto mutters and Tazuna deflates a bit.

"I didn't think of that…"

"Of course you didn't," Naruto rolls his eyes while Sakura flicks his ear, "What? I'm just being logical here. I mean, we're ninjas damn it, killing motherfuckers behind closed doors is what we do!" Naruto then looks to Kakashi, "Right Kakashi?" Kakashi gives him a thumbs up, his nose still in his book. "At least that's what we're supposed to do, I feel," Naruto grumbles quietly as he sighs. "I'm not trying to get in your ass Tazuna, I'm just saying...DUCK!" Naruto brings down Sakura while Sasuke grabs Tazuna and Kakashi dodges the giant cleaver sword that gets stuck to a tree trunk. A shirtless shinobi stands on the handle, glaring at them as they stand up.

"I'm impressed, a mere genin was able to detect my presence," the shinobi informs and Naruto nudges Sakura curiously as they surround Tazuna as protection and Kakashi eyes the newcomer seriously.

"Oi, Sakura-chan...why doesn't he have a shirt on?" Sakura's brow twitches, wondering why Naruto can't read the mood and she huffs.

"I don't know Naruto, why don't you ask him?"

"Okay, I will smartass!"

"Ah, Kakashi of the Sharingan, thought I recognized that stupid haircut. Sorry but…"

"Hey! You!" Naruto voices and Sakura face palms, Sasuke deadpans while Zabuza blinks looking at Naruto. "Why don't you have a shirt on?!" Zabuza narrows his eyes at Naruto, and a few moments pass of pure silence till Zabuza poses his question.

"Are you serious?"

"No...are you serious?" Naruto turns it back around as he crosses his arms. "I mean seriously, you're a shinobi dude...why don't you have a shirt on? I mean, sure, I'm wearing orange, but I have an actual reason...what possible reason can you have as to why you are not wearing a shirt? To distract your enemies with your bulging muscles?" Naruto wonders as he sighs then turns to Sakura who is giving a dry look. "Am I the only one who thinks this whole situation is stupid?"

"Naruto, I'm going to say this as nice as I can," Sakura says evenly and he raises a brow, curious. "Shut up. Please." Naruto deflates with a grunt while Sakura turns to the enemy ninja with a soft sigh, "Zabuza right? I'm sorry for him. Please, go on. You were saying?" she gestures and Zabuza clears his throat.

"Yes, as I was saying…" he starts and his glare returns back on Kakashi. "The old man is mine Kakashi, hand him over," Kakashi however refuses, which prompts Zabuza to use his killing intent, and he looks back to his three genin, but he sees someone move. "What the?" Zabuza gasps as Naruto longest at Zabuza, throwing a fierce punch who jumps out of the way with his sword, and the tree collapses. While not what he expected, Kakashi is thankful for Naruto's distraction as he lunges at the recovering Zabuza, kicking him in the face. Zabuza carefully and quickly ducks under it, still trying to swing his blade upon Kakashi but he misses. The Jounin moves out of the way, whipping out a kunai and lunges at the missing ninja, the two grown men clashing and swinging at each other.

Naruto just stands off to the side, watching carefully, waiting for an opening. His eyes narrow once he finds one, silently rushing at Zabuza from behind. Jumping into the air, he makes a hand sign and a katana appears in his hand and he swings it. His blade slashes Zabuza's back, and he expected blood to flow, but instead, he disperses into water and earns a kick to the face for his troubles. Kakashi spares his student a quick glance but focuses on Zabuza, being behind him with a kunai at his neck. "It's over, Zabuza." Kakashi says in a serious tone. The nuke-nin snorts as he disperses into water again while another Zabuza is behind Kakashi, slicing him in half, but the Konoha Jounin is a water clone as well.

"Oi!" Naruto announces as he delivers a brutal round kick to Zabuza's face. The man grunts in real pain, signifying that he is not a clone. He skids to a stop as Naruto still rushes at him, swinging his sword at him in a precise and accurate motion. But the jounin has been fighting a lot longer than Naruto, and is able to avoid as well as block the strikes. Naruto throws another kick to his face, and Zabuza grabs it, swinging Naruto around, missing the smirk the boy has. Releasing him into the air, Zabuza notices the three kunai that flows towards him, each with an explosive tag.

"Shit!" Zabuza hops away, two of the kunai make contact with the ground but don't explode. The third kunai is on it's way to hitting the ground but Kakashi comes in for the save, throwing it at Zabuza who has no time to move again. An explosion is heard and seen, giving the Konoha ninja the impression Zabuza is caught within. Kakashi is kicked into the water a moment after, causing Naruto to growl and go help but realizes the ten clones of Zabuza in front of him. Kakashi questions what is with the water, as it is too dense, then next thing he knows he is trapped inside a water prison.

Zabuza keeps it together and Kakashi yells out, "Sasuke! Sakura! Help Naruto break free and run with Tazuna!" Kakashi orders, but the two genin just watch their sensei and glance back to an analyzing Naruto.

"Paper Rock Scissors?" Sasuke offers and Sakura gives a shrug as they play the game with Sasuke coming out on top. "Two out of three," he mentions, and the two go again with Sakura winning both times. "Well damn," he grumbles as Sakura grins at him, sticking out her tongue. She turns to the enemy, a smirk coming across her lips.

"Ne, Naruto, need some help?" she asks her friend, but Naruto waves her off. She nods and starts walking towards the real Zabuza who is curious along with Kakashi.

"What are you doing?! Get out of here!" he says frantically as Zabuza laughs at her, then sneers at her and her friends.

"You better listen to your sensei," Zabuza advises as his eyes narrow at the headbands he sees the genin wearing. "Wearing those headbands and acting like Shinobi, how cute. A real shinobi is someone who has had brushes with death numerous times!" Zabuza boasts though Sakura continues to approach, unfazed. "Only when you're good enough to be listed in my bingo book, will you ever be a good ninja!"

"Gryah!" Naruto roars as he kicks and cuts through each clone, an excited grin on his face as he grips his katana. "You should shut up about how to be a Shinobi, you don't even have a shirt on!" Naruto points out causing everyone to yell at him comically.

"WILL YOU GET OFF THAT!"

"Fuck you and your dumbass book!" Naruto spits out, ignoring everyone. "I don't need you telling me about being a Shinobi. You aren't anyone special to determine what I am or not! I make my own path dattebayo!" Naruto growls out with a serious stare. "And anyone who stands in my way, will get their ass kicked! Believe it!"

"Hm, couldn't have said it any better," Sakura chuckles then rushes at Zabuza with an impassive look. The jounin grunts, creating more clones to stop her. As they run at her, Naruto appears in front of her with a battle cry, slashing through them with ease and speed. Zabuza grunts, creating more clones but less this time as it is now a strain on his chakra. Though this time he doesn't have to worry about Naruto taking care of the clones, Sakura does. During the brawl, Naruto hands her his sword and she cuts through all of them with precision. She then gives a hop back, throwing the katana at Zabuza, directly at his body. He curses before jumping high enough and still not releasing the prison to dodge it. Zabuza grins under his mask, gloating.

"You missed!"

"Put a damn shirt on!" a voice says from behind him, and Zabuza looks back to see Naruto throw an explosive kunai at him. A deadpan expression comes upon Zabuza's face as he can only sum up what he is feeling in one word.

"Shit."

* * *

"So, you're saying he is still alive?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Kakashi confirms for Naruto with a nod, and Naruto gives an annoyed sigh with a roll of his eyes. Kakashi glances to Sakura and Sasuke who sit around him as well as he lies in bed from overusing the Sharingan against Zabuza after Naruto and Sakura's rescue plan. The battle was short-lived to be honest because after Zabuza avoided the blast, the two jounin finished off their fight with stylish Jutsu. Kakashi won and was about to finish off Zabuza when a Hunter-nin stopped him from doing so. Naruto had intended to cut into the newcomer as well as Zabuza so they can be done with it, but Kakashi prevented him from doing so. "That Hunter nin should have disposed of Zabuza's body on the spot, it's procedure," Kakashi goes on. "Besides, he used senbon, which probably put Zabuza in a death like state.

"Wait...so you just thought about this?"

"Yeah."

"Aren't you an elite Jounin or something?" Naruto questions with a tilt of his head and Kakashi feels like he is being mocked. "I mean, isn't this kind of stuff supposed to be noticeable to you right then instead of nearly a day later?"

"Pushing that off to the side," Sasuke speaks up, earning a side glare from Naruto. "How long will it take him to heal?" he wonders, glancing to Tazuna who is paying attention. "I doubt he will give up on trying to kill Tazuna," he figures, to which Sakura agrees too, she goes over the damages deal to the man in her head and his supposed recovery time.

"At least two weeks," Sakura tells her team who is interested, "Two weeks at most. With senbon being dealt to the neck, it causes body paralysis for a bit. Not to mention the large strain on his chakra. When he sent his clones after me I noticed they were fewer in number; and his water dragon wasn't as strong as Kakashi-sensei's. So he is probably dealing with chakra exhaustion," Sakura lists out, voicing out her thoughts organically with the team listening closely. "He was also close to an explosion, so his left ear is probably deaf, also the 2nd degree burn marks. He will probably want to have his ear better so it can be a better tool in battle. Like I said, the time I say we have is a week and a half," Sakura estimates then sees that everyone staring at her. "What?" The boys just looked at her in astonishment, surprised by her analysis. Kakashi more so than the other two; her explanation actually letting him know that she is learning something in those medical books she reads.

"Wow Sakura-chan! That was amazing!" Naruto praises with a big grin, Sakura just smiles shyly, with a small light blush on her cheeks. It is as if she is not used to the praise Naruto always gives her. Then he tilts his head a bit, "How come you didn't point this out about the senbon earlier?!" Out of embarrassment and anger at ruining her moment, Sakura bashes him on the head. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Baka!"

"So what are we going to do for a week?" Sasuke questions, moving his attention away from his two teammates usual dynamic. Kakashi gives a sigh as he looks down at his legs, and the other two pay attention.

"Well, I'm still pretty tired from the Sharingan, my body isn't at one hundred percent yet," Kakashi says as he thinks it over. "The Chunin exams are coming up soon, and I plan to register you guys. Which means plenty of time for training. I was going to wait till we got back, but I feel this can be used now. We'll start working on your elemental affinities and applying them to your fighting skills," Kakashi explains as he has Sasuke hand him his bag. He pulls out three blank pieces of paper. Handing each of them one, he orders them to channel chakra into the paper. Sasuke's crumples up before burning, meaning he has fire and lightning. Sakura's becomes wet as well as muddy, meaning she has water and earth affinity. Naruto's is cut exactly in half, one side becomes wet and the other crumples and lights on fire. This means he has wind, water, lightning and fire affinities.

Kakashi narrows his eyes at this information, having a good guess how he inherits three extra affinities. The jounin expected Sakura and Sasuke to be jealous of Naruto, mostly Sasuke; but in fact, the two just look surprised and move on, like it's no big deal. Strange. "Alright, well I now have a clue on what to do with you three. Come, let's start your training!" Naruto only gives a grin,

"About time!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Ugh…"

Tazuna can't help but look over to the more vocal member of Team Seven who is sitting to the side supposedly watching him. But if anything, he looked bored out of his mind. "You know, instead of sitting there looking like a potential suicide victim, you can help too," Tazuna offers, gaining Naruto's attention, the blonds half lidded lazy glare on him. "I bet it'll go much faster," he suggests while going to pick up a beam. Naruto however just looks at him before…

"Uggghhh!"

A sweat drop forms on Tazuna's head due to the blond's complaining. "Lazy ass kids," he grumbles, going on with his business. Just as he is about to lift up the beam, his attention is given to one of the workers. "Oh hey Geko, help me with this will ya?"

"Um, actually Tazuna, I came to have a word with you," Tazuna blinks but gives a quiet sigh as he fixes his posture, facing Geko. Nervously, Geko scratches the back of his head with an unsure look on his face, "Look Tazuna, you and I have been friends for a long time but…"

Meanwhile, Naruto gave a sigh as he thought about what he wanted for dinner. Maybe he could ask Sakura to go shopping with him and try to convince her into making him a meal. Normally she wouldn't during a mission considering they have to be focused, but Zabuza is sick as a dog and they have nothing but time. Surely she can make him at least a meal or four? His stomach can't help but growl at the thought as he pouts, "Muu~! Sakura-chan's food!"

"What do you mean your quitting?!" Naruto leaves his daydream about Sakura's food as he looks over to Tazuna to see what the issue is. His eyes look over Tazuna and one of the workers seeming to have a heated discussion. "The bridge is almost done! A week at best!"

"What's the point?!" Geko demanded with his own yell and Tazuna scowls. "Even if Gato doesn't kill you or anyone else before the bridge is done, there is nothing to stop him from blowing it up anyway!" Tazuna flinches a bit as he tries not to look over to Naruto who isn't even really enjoying the comment. He is too busy focused on Geko's words, who continues. "Think about it Tazuna!" Geko tries to convince a bit more softly. "Why put yourself and your family in danger for something that is doomed to fail?!"

"You sound like a coward."

"Eh?" Geko blinks in surprise, then turns to look at Naruto who still looks to be bored, but it's clear annoyance is in his eyes. "What did you say?!"

"I said, you sound like a coward!" Naruto repeated as he stands up, glaring at him. "Everyone in this damn country is so damn sensitive," he mutters, rolling his eyes. "You're a grown ass man! Why are you so scared over a dwarf who happens to have a little change in his pocket?" Naruto questions honestly…

"You don't understand! Gato is…"

But Naruto didn't desire an answer, "Shut up! If you're going to quit, then hurry up and get lost will ya?" Naruto huffs, "Less people who hold up Tazuna with their bullshit, the quicker I can eat Sakura's cooking!" as Geko scowls and walks away, Naruto crosses his fingers and a moment later, twenty Naruto's stand beside him, giving Tazuna a mock salute.

"What are our orders ol dumb drunk one?!"

Tazuna can't help but smile.

* * *

"I'm not cooking for you Naruto."

"Awwww! Sakura-chan why noooott?! I'm hungry dattebayo!"

Sakura sighs as her face is planted to the dinner table while Sasuke seems to try and not fall out of his chair. "Naruto…normally, I would love to cook for you. But I'm way too tired babe," Sakura tries to reason with her friend who groans despite the fact he is helping Tsunami set the table. "Thank you," she mutters once she senses her plate put down in front of her.

"Fine," the blond shrugs, deciding to just leave it alone for now. "Why are you guys so tired anyway?" he wondered seeing as Sasuke too was having issues as he gave a grumble.

"Fucking Kakashi," Sakura just groaned in agreement while Kakashi looks completely relaxed with his book out, giving an eye smile.

"Aw, come on guys, no pain no gain!"

"Fuck you!" the two genin snap, causing both Naruto and Kakashi to sweat drop due to their enthusiasm to curse at their teacher. Naruto looked between them as he sat beside Sakura with his plate.

"Tough training eh?"

"You have no damn idea," Sakura whined as she lifts her head up, pouting at him. "It was fine for like the first hour ya know? We warmed up, did some stretches, a quick spar…" Sakura trails off as her brow twitches, looking at Kakashi who is reading his book. "Then he gave us the idea on how to use our new weapons," she tells him, and he hums in thought. He does remember Kakashi taking them to the store for some equipment not too long ago. He had decided to pick up some trench knives for refined precise close combat since his fighting style is a bit wild. Sakura chose a naginata and Sasuke picked up a chokuto, typical Uchiha.

"We weren't even half way done with our exercises when he had us spar on the nearby lake with our weapons, which had taken a lot more concentration," Sasuke added to Sakura, glaring at Kakashi tiredly. "He had us go at this for hours on end!" Naruto doesn't seem too convinced as he eats his food, shrugging.

"That doesn't sound too bad. You guys are just wimps," he snorts, earning glares from the two. Sasuke rolls his eyes while Sakura elbows him a bit, but he doesn't really flinch as she sneers playfully at him.

"Well let's see how you down when it's your turn to train tomorrow."

"Bring it," is all Naruto says as he continues to eat. Both Sasuke and Sakura can't help but feel annoyed at Naruto's nonchalant attitude, but they both looked at each other and simply smirked. Oh he will find out. They then glance to Kakashi who is ever silent, already coming up with a training regime for Naruto. He actually agreed with the blond when it came to the training regime he had set up for the other two. With Naruto's inhuman stamina, massive chakra reserves and tough body, the boy can easily take on the current regime.

Naruto is after all the only who likes to focus on getting personal with his opponents to the point he chooses not to use his sword. Taijutsu training is needed, and since he decided to choose those trench knives which are similar to Asuma's, he needs a way for the boy to learn how to use them. But the only person who is an expert is Asuma himself. It's the same with Taijutsu, Gai is another perfect example. He himself is a ninjutsu specialist, meaning Sasuke is his ideal student. Then there is Kurenai with her genjutsu, which makes Sakura an ideal student for her as well.

However he isn't going to ship these kids to others because he does not have a clue to get the job done. Minato-sensei did not do that for his genin team, he won't do it to his own. And even though he doesn't really care for the Hokage's choice at times, he did put these awkward bloodthirsty, smartass kids on his team, making them his responsibility.

"You guys have moths or something?" Naruto mutters out as he picks out his teeth while leaning back in his chair. Sakura looks up to see Naruto is referring to the portrait that is ripped, as if someone is missing. Tsunami blinks as she stands up making her way to the sink and frowns a bit, speaking quietly.

"It was a family picture," she says a little. "The person missing is my late husband." Naruto doesn't say anything as he reads the overall mood of the room, though he is curious as Tazuna gives a sigh and speaks.

"He was a hero of this land." Upon hearing this, Inari suddenly leaves the table. Tsunami calls out for her son who ignores her, and she scowls at her father who scratches the back of his head a little.

"You know better than to talk about him at the table! Especially in front of Inari!" Tsunami scolds as she goes upstairs after her son, while Tazuna looks a bit ashamed. Interested, Kakashi leans forward once he set his book down, raising a brow.

"What is the story behind this hero?"

* * *

"Alright Naruto, ready to begin your training?"

"I've been ready dattebayo!" says an excited shirtless Naruto, eager to begin. Kakashi and Naruto stand in the nearby forest that is not a long way away from Tazuna's house. With Sasuke guarding Tazuna, not too far is Sakura, who is admiring her best friends well sculpted body, even going so far to lick her lips somewhat sensually. Kakashi nods as he, flips a page and begins to give his instructions.

"Okay, I first want to see how fast you are in taking down your opponents. There will be often times where there will be a large group of opponents, whether it be Shinobi or not," Kakashi starts, his eye glancing up to Naruto who is actually paying attention. "So with that said, I want you to create, lets say thirty clones." Without hesitating, Naruto crosses his fingers together.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Immediately, there is a cloud of smoke then from it are thirty clones surrounding him. All the Naruto clones hop a back a bit to face the original ready for the order of attack. "Alright you devilish handsome ninjas! Come at me with nothing but Taijutsu! Ready?!"

"Hai!" they all salute. Naruto slips into a fighting position, and waves for them to come at him. With psychotic grins, they all rush at him and meets them. Kakashi watches as the blond jumps with a front flip into the crowd of clones. There are about three or four clones that jump to meet him, but that results in failure as a they are non-existent with a few spin kicks and a punch.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura calls from her tree, looking away from her own book, earning his attention. "How is this supposed to help Naruto?" she wonders, watching her friend closely. "If my guess is right, you know that this is child's play to him."

"Agreed." Naruto chimes in, snapping the last clones neck, causing Kakashi's eye to twitch. Looking at his stop watch, Kakashi hums to himself.

"Eleven seconds." Naruto simply smirks, but Kakashi doesn't seem to impressed; because this was expected. "Now, you have those knives?" the blond pulls them from his pockets, slipping them into his hand. "Good, now lets see how you do with fifty armed clones."

Naruto doesn't say anything, calling on his clones who are armed with kunais and ready. Naruto rushes at him, and Kakashi analyzes the teen closely to see the joints in Naruto's arms are loose, yet the power he is pushing into his legs seem to be a bit strenuous. Once Naruto submerges himself into the horde of clones, the dispelling began to take place. Kakashi sighs as he walks up to the tree where Sakura is, so he can see exactly what Naruto is doing. "Hmm," the teacher hums, gaining his student's attention.

"Something wrong sensei?" she voices, though Kakashi had a feeling that she likely knows the answer. Kakashi nods slightly, crossing his arms as he watches the whiskered teen below.

"It's Naruto. His attacks are…sloppy, and not as critical as they usually are. While he normally has a wild form of Taijutsu anyway, he is actually quite precise with his attacks," Kakashi evaluates, and Sakura agrees. "However, with these knives, it's like he's not even trying." Sakura gives a small giggle as she nods, her eyes still never leaving her friend.

"You mean it's like he's just hacking and slashing, which is delaying his time?" she then hums, "He is already at twenty-three seconds and counting." Kakashi nods, seeing his clock is matching with her time. "It's because he is. Naruto isn't used to a blade that isn't a katana." She said, which catches his attention. He doesn't bother to argue with her, seeing that she most likely knows almost everything about her teammates than she or the other two let on.

"Naruto is a brawler," Sakura educates, "We all know this. He doesn't care if he is taking on one person or an entire army, he aims to kill and conquer. It's why it seems he doesn't have a set style when fighting because he just wants to beat his opponents down with his fist. It's how he deals with his anger," Sakura throws in just because, something Kakashi didn't know at all. "Naruto's skill with a sword is not a joking manner, but that because someone took the time to teach him that kenjutsu is more than just swinging a sword around."

Kakashi and Sakura both begin to notice how Naruto is starting to receive attacks a bit more, which seems to annoy him. "His lust for battle overrides his common sense, he's more rash and psychotic. Putting a blade in his hand does not help, even with his sword," she says which Kakashi does agree with. Because even though Naruto is rather graceful with his sword, his style is very abrasive and violent. Like Sakura said, he aims to kill and bring pain. "With a sword he can easily draw blood, which turns him on. So any sense that has nothing to do with battle and blood is lost," Sakura informs.

"So what you're saying is, Naruto first needs to maintain his common sense with regular fighting, before he should handle any kind of blade?" Kakashi asks, and Sakura gives a shrug in response.

"You're the sensei, sensei. Do what you think is best, I'm just here to help," she smiles playfully and he gives a grunt. Just as they finish their conversation, Naruto explodes from anger, and begins to massacre the clones. "Oh, that's another thing. Naruto is kind of a sore loser. If he feels he is losing, and there is no way for him to turn it around, he loses his temper and slashes everything in his way…like now," Sakura adds with a light chuckle, and Kakashi sighs as Naruto finishes the clones with a glare on his face.

"Greeeeeaaaatt."

* * *

"What's the matter dobe, tough time training?"

"Fuck you Sasuke!" Naruto growls as his teammate as he slumps completely at the dinner table. Sakura sits by his side, rubbing his back soothingly while shaking her head, and Inari sits by Sasuke, his grandfather on the other side of him.

"C'mon guys, no fighting at the table," Sakura tries to calm the two down, already knowing how they will pop off. "Can't we just be happy that we're getting stronger? Next time we see Zabuza, he won't escape."

"Yeah, that shirtless asshole is mince meat!" Naruto grins, already feeling better, especially with Sakura now running her hand through his hair. He automatically begins to relax all over while the team start to chat a bit more on a light note. They mainly talk about how Zabuza and his fake Anbu won't stand a chance. But as they talk, no one notices really the dark and irritated vibe coming from Inari who just watches them angrily.

"Shut up already!" Inari shouts, causing everyone to stop and pay attention to him. Naruto blinks at the outburst and is about to voice his thoughts but the kid goes on. "None of you are strong enough to face Gato! You're wasting your time! Gato has lots of bad guys and power to kill you, you think because you're ninja you can just come here and save us?!" Inari demands, and Naruto interrupts him, quite annoyed.

"Listen ya lil shit," he curses but Sakura grabs his shoulder, but he continues. "Gato is nothing to worry about, and we didn't come here to save your sorry village if you _really_ want to know," he clarifies. "Personally, I don't really care. We're ninja, meaning we were hired to protect your gramps from getting killed, everything else is extra. We're just doing our job, alright?"

"Ugh!" Inari spits as he stands up and glares at Naruto, pointing at him. "You piss me off the most!" this confuses Naruto as he points to himself out of confusion. "You try to act like you're the coolest person ever, but you're not! You don't know what we've been through! The pain we have suffered! You live in a village that is successful! I bet you've never gone hungry and…"

"Have you?" Sakura interrupts him, her stare blank. However she also has a hand on Naruto's mouth and her other hand on Sasuke's chest, stopping them both from doing something rash. Taken back by this, Inari looks completely confused so she elaborated. "Have you ever gone hungry? Answer truthfully now, also keep in mind that your mother and grandfather are right here," she gestures to them and Inari glances to his mother who holds a raised brow while Tazuna is also curious. "Now, give me an honest answer. Have you ever gone hungry?" she demands.

"N-no."

"Have you ever been beaten?"

"No."

"Well your little ass needs to get a good one!" Naruto throws in, moving Sakura's hand. But this outburst makes Sakura chop him in the throat, causing him to gag and fall out of his chair in pain. "So worth it!" he chokes out. Sakura ignores him, as she continues on.

"Then you have no right to be spewing out nonsense, like you have experienced it first hand," She tells Inari, her glare still rather blank. "You are the lucky one Inari. You have a mother that cooks for you and a grandfather that goes out everyday to work and make sure both you and your mother are taken care of," Sakura tells him. "You do realize that people _are_ trying to kill your grandfather right?"

"I…" Inari tries but he speaks louder, "I have suffered though! I have been lied too! I bet not one of you have had someone make an important promise and not fulfill it!" Inari spits at them, causing the room to be silent.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"I'm not dealing with this shit bro." Naruto says as he gets up, walking out of the house, even closing the door behind him quietly. Sakura takes a deep breath closing her eyes and then stands up, looking to Tsunami with a small smile.

"Thank you for dinner Tsunami-san, Naruto-kun appreciates it as well." Sakura then grabs the two empty plates putting them in the sink. She then moves towards the door and pauses, "You are blessed Inari. Not everyone has the ability to say they have a family to take care of them, let alone a family at all." She then looks to him with a hard glare. "But the next time you say something so stupid to my friend, I will make you regret it." With that Sakura left the house, closing the door behind her just as quietly.

Sasuke stands, but goes upstairs without a word. Kakashi simply sighs, shaking his head at the events of tonight.

* * *

Sakura walks at a nice decent pace, not really rushing to find her teammate. He wouldn't have gone far, and she wanted to give him enough time to vent his frustrations, if he could that is. So till she finds him, she enjoys the walk as it calms her down. She figures she did a good job at keeping herself together during that whole fiasco. In fact, she will have to thank Naruto for helping her not blow up. She honestly was going to lose her grip if Naruto hadn't got up to leave. Seeing that he didn't even bother to get truly angry, told her that she didn't need to get upset either. The boy was not worth the energy. She didn't know how Sasuke felt about the situation though, but she did understand he was quite ticked.

"I expected Sasuke to be out here," she hears from above her. Looking up, she sees her teammate sitting on a thick tree branch, staring up at the full moon. Narrowing her eyes a bit she takes note of the bottle of liquor in his hand. She gives a shrug in response.

"I don't know why. You know how Sasuke-kun is with the whole emotion stuff," just as she says this, he takes a sip. "Mind if I join you?"

"You I don't care Sakura, so why do you keep asking?" Naruto mutters in an even tone. Sakura gives another shrug before hopping onto the branch, sitting beside him.

"I don't know. Maybe someday, you might surprise me and not want me around anymore," Sakura replies honestly. Naruto glances at her, but says nothing for a few moments, then gives a quiet mutter.

"Silly girl." About to take another swig, Sakura playfully snatches it out of his hand playfully to see what kind it is. Seeing it's a brand she hasn't had before, she takes a swig, ignoring the grumbling from her friend. There is a peaceful silence for them as they sit beside each other, gazing at the moon. "Thank you, Naruto-kun." Naruto raises a brow as she explains. "You saved me from a lot of grief back there. I was about to lose it with that kid."

"You know most of the things I do when it concerns you and Sasuke is to protect you guys," Naruto shrugs, and Sakura gives a smile with a nod.

"Yeah I know, and Sasuke knows too. He is just too cool to admit it," Sakura giggles, "But he appreciates the effort you use." Naruto nods, trying to pretend he doesn't care, but she can see a very small smile tugging at his lips.

"You're feeling better though?"

"A little," she mentions honestly. "I still have the urge to go back and kill him, but it will subside once I get some sleep," Sakura replies. Naruto shakes his head, earning her eyes to focus on him.

"That's not good enough. You might not be able to sleep tonight," he states, before pausing. Capping the bottle he jumps down and holds out his arms towards her. "C'mon." Easily, she falls from the branch into his arms. Setting her down, he grabs her hand, leading her a bit deeper into the forest.

"What are we doing?"

Naruto smiles a little as he steps a few feet back. "I'm going to help you release that tension. When was the last time you let loose?" Naruto wonders, his answer is a shrug. "Meaning we definitely need to do this now," but Sakura is unsure as she tries to convince him otherwise.

"Let's not Naruto-kun, I'll be fine."

"Sure you will," Naruto deadpans causing her to pout. "I don't need you getting pissed off and then killing everyone within your field of vision. You need to let go," he reasons. Sakura wants to protest some more, but sighs, knowing he isn't backing down. So she agrees.

"Will you let loose with me?" she wonders with a hopeful smile. He nods, causing her to smile a bit wide. Sakura takes a deep breath and covers her eyes with her fingers, this prompts Naruto to slip into a fighting position. His usual slit eyes open, revealing serious sapphire orbs. He watches as Sakura's blank frown starts to turn into a maniac grin, her canines sharpen a bit and her muscles tone a bit. While this is going on, a menacing dark green aura surrounds her. "Hehehehehe…" Sakura giggles, putting Naruto slightly on edge.

His stance tightens a bit, his eyes narrowing at Sakura. The girl removes her hand, looking towards him. Her eyes are different, her emerald eyes pupil-less and her sclera is pitch black. "Let's have some fun, ne…Na-ru-to- _kun_." Sakura licks her lips, her voice sounding somewhat demented. Without warning, Sakura rushes towards Naruto at break neck speeds, and he grunts, blocking an axe kick she gives him from above on his left.

Sakura vanishes again, appearing behind him, throwing a punch at his head. The blond however dodges it, throwing a round kick to her head. "You're going to have to do better than that, _Naruto-kun!_ " Sakura laughs, Naruto smirks as he jumps away from her, summoning ten clones and each of them disappear. Sakura just continues to laugh, dispelling each clone that comes at her. She then lunges at the real Naruto, sending a combo of kicks at him, he dodges one and blocks the other.

Skidding back a bit, he jumps into the air to avoid Sakura's oncoming assault. Landing in a tree, he finds it's useless, considering Sakura just appears beside him, decking him across the face. He flies, crashing through trees while Sakura simply smirks as she falls to the ground. Rubbing his face, Naruto lands and stands up straight. With narrowed eyes, he rushes at Sakura who eggs him on. Throwing her fist at him, Naruto easily escapes it before kneeing her in the gut then back handing her. But Sakura just keeps laughing and kicks him in the face; he skids back, and catches her first with an open palm just in time.

He is pushed back though from the force the punch had brought, "Sorry love, but not today!" he roars, then delivers an uppercut with his other fist. Sakura grunts as she didn't see it coming, but he isn't done, letting go of Sakura then drop kicking her. Once Naruto he stands up, he runs at Sakura who brushes off the pain and charges him as well. The girl blurs in front of Naruto, bringing down a hammer fist that Naruto blocks with one hand. This action causes a crater to form under Naruto, due to the pressure and power behind Sakura's attack. Naruto is doing his best to not fall under attack, so with gathering his chakra, with his other hand, Naruto pushes his hand against Sakura's abs and releases the chakra.

"Yyaaah!" she screams, being engulfed in a pressurized wave of wind. Blown away into the air by the attack, allows Naruto to relax for a shirt time. This is foolish as Sakura makes her way back down towards him with a charged axe kick. Blinking, he looks up to see she is coming down towards him. Trying to at least move out the way is difficult, within milliseconds she has already landed, causing a large shockwave to occur, blowing him back crashing into trees.

"Don't tell me that's it, _Naruto-kun!_ " Sakura mocks, wiping her mouth of blood and waiting for him to respond. A minute nearly passes without any kind of reaction and she is about to put her mask back on, but stops upon the feeling of a dark suffocating aura. A clawed hand grips onto the trunk of a tree and moments later, Naruto emerges from the shadows basking in the light of the moon.

His whiskers are bold, and his canines longer. Sakura can also see the definition of his muscles, and the dark red aura surrounding him. With a maniacal grin on his face, Naruto rushes at Sakura who follows his lead.

With cocked back firsts, the two clash.

* * *

Sasuke opens his eyes from his meditation and stands up walking towards the window, looking out towards the forest.

He gazes for a few moments before shaking his head; they were at it again. Naruto probably forced Sakura to let go so she can release some tension, while a caring idea, it was also hazardous. If undefeated or tamed, Sakura would become a danger to the nearest public. She will kill anyone until her bloodlust was satisfied. Honestly, she is worse than Naruto. While it took some effort to calm Naruto down, it took a lot of effort to calm Sakura down. Even though the three have been friends for years, he nor Naruto still don't understand why that is.

There have been some occasions where he and Naruto thought she was hiding something from them, and while Sasuke would completely bug the shit out of Naruto. As far as the blond knows, the three keep no secrets from each other. It was something that was decided when they became friends. Naruto came out with the fact he holds the Nine tails, Sakura admitted to hating almost everyone besides them and has murderous thoughts, and he revealed the fact once Itachi is dead, he doesn't want to live anymore, and that even sometimes he doesn't want to live in general.

From that point, they have shared and continue to share their thoughts and lives with each other. He and Sakura help support Naruto with his nightmares and loner tendencies; and in other cases he and Naruto helped Sakura craft a mask for her sociopath quirks and maniacal personality. Then there is the fact that Naruto and Sakura help him with his suicidal thoughts and anger issues. They all support each other, and that's how Sasuke likes it. He knows that if it wasn't for his two friends, he would either be dead, or an arrogant emo bastard.

A part of him wants to go out and help Naruto with Sakura, but he knows the asshole can handle her. He always does. There has never been a time where Naruto was not there for Sakura, sometimes he thinks Naruto loves her more than just a sister, and vice versa. Truthfully, he would be relieved if the two get together. It not only saves him the trouble of dealing with people outside of their triangle and he wouldn't feel the need to kick someone's ass just in case they hurt his friends; but the two are basically made for each other.

Naruto is Sakura's cage, and Sakura is Naruto's leash. When Sakura gets out of hand, and gets to the point where even he would be worried, Naruto is right there to take all of her rage. He is her punching bag, literally. There has even been a time in her beginning stages of wearing a mask, where Sakura could not take it and let loose. Naruto was right there, taking every single hit, every hurtful word and did it with a caring smile. He himself knows it hurts Sakura seeing as she loves him so much, and he knows she works her very best to keep it in check so she isn't the one to hurt their friend.

When Naruto gets out of hand, Sakura is there to shut it down. While the two play around a lot, like earlier at the table, when Sakura is serious, she is on a mission. When Naruto's attitude is out of control and he becomes too much, or gives a little too much into his wild side, Sakura stops him. This one time, she gained this look in her eye, appeared in front of him as he was acting out and put her hand on his cheek, gazing into his eyes. She didn't have to say a word. Her mere touch had already calmed Naruto down, but she definitely got the job done by staring into his eyes.

Cage and Leash.

He himself? He doesn't have those problems, but he is sure his friends would disagree. Both Naruto and Sakura have different ways of calming him down, usually, Naruto just starts to fight him. Sakura's way is to put him in a Genjutsu that always is different but with the same theme. Family. A family of his own making. Young daughter and son, a wife, a happy peaceful home…not too different from his childhood. But every time the illusion is over, he can't recall their faces or their names…but it makes him focus on making that illusion become reality. He asks Sakura to put him in that genjutsu, but she never knows what he is talking about.

He had even pretended to act out so he could enjoy the illusion again, but it's as if Sakura has an idea when he is faking. Naruto however doesn't and would just try to beat the hell out of him, and Sakura just laughs, almost as if saying ' _That's what you get for faking!_ ' so he learned a long time ago not to pretend because Naruto would just start to punch him and pull him into a fight.

"Heh." Sasuke chuckles a little, laying down in his futon and closing his eyes. It was kind of strange how thinking of his friends makes him happy. Much to his joy, he dreams of his future family without the need of Sakura's genjutsu skills.

What a happy thought.

* * *

"Damn."

Naruto raises himself from the tree trunk he found himself against and looks around the broken trees and craters, showing the extent of their battle. Looking up to the sky, to see it's still black, he then looks to find Sakura who is missing. He hums in thought considering he and Sakura both passed out in the same place once they couldn't fight anymore.

Standing up, he decides to leave the trashed area to find his friend. As he walks, he catches her scent and heads towards it, but she's not at the house. It takes a few minutes, but he finally catches up and upon doing so, he enters a peaceful meadow. His eyes actually open upon finding Sakura, who is laying on her back, staring up towards the sky. Quietly, he walks over and lays next to her. He doesn't say anything and neither does she, a few moments later her hand finds his, interlacing their fingers.

"I love you, Naruto." Naruto doesn't say anything, he doesn't even look at her. But after a few minutes, his lips twitch hand begins to speak.

"But we can't be together," he whispers. Sakura looks towards him, gazing at the side of his face. "You don't have to say anything Sakura," he mutters, shaking his head. Sakura frowns, but lays atop of him, gazing into his wonderful yet sullen blue eyes.

"I do love you Naruto, but…" Sakura chokes a little, tears starting to spill. "You can't love me, I'm broken." Naruto's blank expressions turn into one of confusion with a heavy frown.

"Why do you keep saying that? If it's about your behavior then…"

"It's not," Sakura interrupts, refusing. "It's not. I know you love that about me. I know."

"Then what is it Sakura?" Naruto questions as he now looks to her, curious, begging. "What aren't you telling me?" he demands a bit more firmly.

"I can't…I can't tell you," Sakura says quietly. "You would only be disgusted of me, and the feelings you have for me now would just disappear," she says, as if it's logical.

"You don't know that."

"Neither do you!"

It is silent from that point. Both of them gaze into each others eyes and Naruto gives an exhausted sigh, and it's clear to Sakura how tired he is. "What do I have to do? I'm tried of this game Sakura. I want to give you my love, show you more than I already do, but you won't let me!" Naruto scowls. "And I know you want to return it, but your not letting yourself! Why? Why won't you even give us a chance knowing that you and I…" Naruto tries even grabbing her hand but Sakura looks away.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I can't." she shakes her head, taking her hand back. Naruto stares at her for several long tense moments with an expression reflecting his hurt and his sadness. He though takes a deep breath, one of resignation and his eyes close, his expression now blank.

"Okay." Without much effort, Naruto removes her from atop of him and stands up, dusting himself off. He then walks off towards the house, leaving Sakura alone. As much as she wants to stop him, she can't. Helplessly, she watches him walk off into the darkness, tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun."


End file.
